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Show I . . . . , !l : i.dvapjd ::oir wccll: . Author cf "A lliniiter of War" " . C-.i-rl.lt, V'X lj irttkcrt S.vC.i.-. & Co.)- ; - ' ' , " '11' . ' :'. t. . I f It" it . 1 r. 1 r. 1 - : A 1 y ..i. c ar. st. fjr yoj, t o, it v o ..: I Ls ( rf-.t. I cat turrurl you wl:'i f ' h 1 at .ry that t.e carr i t f tl.a vorl 1 v.. I rever touch you. Ihrra vl'.l te I erfurne and music an-l all the la; l-.an-ous thlr?s of life. You shall not. f. ft the weight of a elr?!e thought. Irou will be guarded and treasured as r.o jewel was ever protected before. You will be one of the great ladles of llu-rope. llu-rope. Your title wLl be melody In j-q r ears, and the homaee of men will be Grateful to you. Your estates stretch-green stretch-green and fertile through the loveliest sections of the land. Peasants will bend ' the knee to you and applaud as you ride by. A motion of your hand will be law to a multitude of retainers." He rose and leaned over her pleadingly. plead-ingly. "Do not throw It all aside for the sake of an old prejudice." Katherlne lifted her head from hef hands and he looked Into weary yes. "Rather than marry you," Bhe said ; Quietly, "I would endure Imprisonment and death." . Roland In his concealment felt his heart bound, But Zito for the first time seemed depressed. He stood before her repulsed, uncertain, disheartened. And while he tried to think what h should do. a knock waa heard at the door. Angered An-gered by the Interruption, Zito flung If open and demanded of the frightened footman, "By what authority do you come here?" ' "I bear a hundred pardons, your highness," high-ness," said theman, "but Gen. Stanislaus Stanis-laus Waketchkl has Just arrived with a message from his royal Highness, the Prince of Felzenbruck. The General bade me find you Instantly, since he has but thirty minutes to stop.". Zito turned fiercely to Katherlne. "I will give you another chance to consider." con-sider." he said. Then he added softly, his eyes upon her. "Remember, mademoiselle, made-moiselle, that I adore you." He left the room, followed by the ser. vant. and locked the door behind him. CHAPTER XVHL . r, e-e-m 0 A Discovery. Katherlne rose and they stood confronted. con-fronted. The Impulse to 'take her In his arms was almost imslstlble to Roland, Ro-land, but something In her eyes held him back. - "So you are Prince Roland," she said very gravely. He threw back his head. It was hard to bear the reproach In her voice. "I have deceived you,. I admit," he said, "but there was no other way. I am not ashamed of It." "You have put me In. a false position," posi-tion," she answered. "It could do you no possible harm." he Insisted, not without a certain exultation. ex-ultation. "The danger was mine." He checked himself, remembering her predicament. pre-dicament. "No one could have foreseen fore-seen such a disaster as this. It Is too terrible. It has made you suffer. But It gives me the chance to save you, and that Is worth everything." : Her breath caught In her throat, but she laughed a little." "It's a queer kind of cblvalry," she trald, "to Imprison a woman In orde to rescue her." Roland could not even smile. He caught her, hand In both of his. "Miss Barrington," he said, and towr ered over her, "you believe me, don't you? I would give my life for you this rnlnute. I would not have put you in this position even to hear you say you loved one. Not even for that," and he gave a quick sigh. The girl's eyes softened as the looked at htm. "You are here now," he went on. "and I must get you out. I must get you out even If freedom for you means for me going back to my lonely prison. You will remember It of me, will you not. If it comes to such exile and wretchedness?" wretched-ness?" j. She had fallen into a chair and he I took her by the shoulders with a certain cer-tain ferocity. "You must remember It." "I shall remember It of you." she answered an-swered quietly, "whatever happens." A light came into his face. He turned away from her. "We must work then," he said gayly. "We are prisoners together." to-gether." He crossed the room and tried the door, but It would not move. Turning Turn-ing into the embrasure in which he had been hidden, he searched for another exit. FalUng in this and knowing that the bare room contained no other door, he examined the windows with minute care. They were guarded with vertical iron bars, very strong and firmly imbedded im-bedded In the masonry. Looking through them, he could not make out a single foothold above the ground sixty six-ty feet below. No bays or balconies of fered a refuge. On that side of the castle there was not even a vine. His search was swift, but so careful that It took time. At Intervals there would be a quick little dialogue with Katherlne, but he did not allow It to Interrupt his work. Once her curiosity was too strong for her, and she asked him how he had reached the castle. "We caught your train on a special," he answered bluntly. "Von Meyer was with me. We found you gone and followed." fol-lowed." There was silence again while Roland began to examine the paneling. The apartment was large but bare. On one side stood an ancient rosewood bed upon a dais. A few chairs against the wall bore many marks of age. The floor, once highly polished, was now marred by a thousand scratches, and shabby rugs half covered It. Though some attempt had evidently been made to clean the apartment, the ceiling, on which painted figures were still discernible, dis-cernible, was adorned with cobwebs. The lamp from which Katherlne had Improvised a signal light was a curious relic of bygone days, and the table that I held it was decorated with carvings that were sadly chipped and broken. "Where are your companions hidden?" hid-den?" Roland asked sharply. "If they have not been moved they Tht Ccuat'a retltion. Zito swung the door back and stood dazed and bewildered In the sudden light On the table close to the window was a large lamp and behind It a curiously curi-ously wrought fire-screen of red glass, which explained to Roland the glow he had watched. He took this in subconsciously, subcon-sciously, for Instantly his eyes were fixed upon Katherlne, who stood erect and defiant In the center of the room. To Roland she seemed too beautiful, too hopelessly inaccessible. He felt as though his heart would break with the need of her. Zito entered the room with an air of assurance. "Good evening, little one," he said insinuatingly, "is this an illumination illu-mination in my honor?" Roland could have knocked him down rhere he stood. It was all he could do to keep his wits together and remember that concealment was his cue. As Zito advanced into the room, he followed him llKhtly, his finger on his lips. Unfamiliar Unfa-miliar as he was with the castle, he knew not what danger he was running Into; but luckily at the right of the door some ancient tapestry hung over an embrasure which served as a closet. Roland took refuge behind it. his eyes upon Katherlne, compelling her to silence. si-lence. She stood tense and frozen, except ex-cept for a catch in her breath and her wide gleaming eyes. When Roland was safe in his hiding place, she coldly answered an-swered Zito's question. "You enter my room again without leave." There was scorn in her voice and In her manner. "I am In your power. A gentleman would consider that a reason for greater courtesy." Arrogant as he was. Zito had a certain cer-tain skill with women. It gave him confidence that he could overcome, her antagonism. He brought It to bear upon her. "You do not realize, mademoiselle, mad-emoiselle, what it means to me to see you. In my eagerness I forget even the ordinary courtesies of life. You have plunged mo so deeplnto love of you that I cannot think. My mind Is in a whirl. I know only that I must see you, that it is torture to be away from the light of your eyes." Zito's experience had convinced him that a man cannot plunge too suddenly into such a declaration. He realized that the very shock of it, the confidence that it indicates is a force that many women cannot resist. But for Katherlne. Kathe-rlne. Indignantly alive to all that was overbearing and all that. was sensual in the man, It had no charm. She turned away, from him haughtily. "You will pardon me, mademoiselle," he continued after a pause. "Surely you will forgive an offense that nothing, noth-ing, but your own beauty could have caused. It makes me unconscious of everything but my love of you. Never have I seen such loveliness, -mademoiselle. To kiss your hand, to make you turn kind eyes upon me, I would give this castle and all that it contains." Miss Barrington flushed angrily under un-der his gaze. "If you wish to please me, you have only to give me my freedom. free-dom. Then anything you care to say I shall gratefully hear." But. her faith in human nature waa rot Justified. "Gratefully!" the. Count echoed with scorn. "Do you think gratitude grat-itude is what I want? I would rather have you as you are than with such a dribbling sentiment. You -are handsome, hand-some, my lady, with that curl of your Up. But you need not think It will help you. ' One way or another I shaU win. It would be best for you to marry me tomorrow as I suggested." To Roland behind the tapestry it was torture to listen. He would have given his fortune to, shoot the Count as he looked at her, but he realised that it would be a folly that would endanger the woman he cared most to protect. The hardest thing in life sometimes is to do nothing. Zito's manner changed. "Sit down here beside me," he said aoftly, taking the girl's hand and trying to lead her toward a chair. "You know, dearest, that I could not do anything to hurt you. I love you too well for that. Never before have I seen a woman whom I longed to make my wife.- I have malted malt-ed through long years for this moment, mademoiselle. You will not be cruel to m." - There was something seductive In his voice 'which made Roland grind - his teeth, but Katherlne remained haughtily haught-ily erect. "Cruel!" she echoed, and the eyes she turned upon him were flaming: flam-ing: "It is you who are cruel. Count. If you were telling me the truth you could not put me in this position. You would be more generous to me. You could not make me suffer like this." Her voice had In It a note of appeal which seemed to Roland the most piteous pite-ous thing he had ever heard.- But It left Zito unmoved. "If you will marry me tomorrow," he insisted, "you shall not suffer. I can give you anything. mademoiselle. You 'will have wealth and power and the friendship of great men. I shall adore you. Everything you can ak will be yours before the asking. We will leave Etanek behind us. I have three castles more noble than this, far more beautiful than this. You shall choose between them." "All this is quite useless," the girl answered with a beautiful dignity. "Many of the things you offer me are already mine. And I have one thing that Is better than them all a certain liberty of choice. Nothing that you can give me has any value In comparison to that. And there la no possible gift that I would accept from you. Be good enough to end this Interview." "You evidently forget." and there was a sneer In the Count's smile as he answered, an-swered, "that you are a. prisoner, charged as a spy with betraying the secrets of Felzenbruck." Katherlne grew pale. "I know that you have conjured up some accusation," she said, "to get me In your power. I am not afraid. You have no proofs. When my friends learn that L have disappeared dis-appeared you will hear from our Embassador Em-bassador at Berlin. "Ah!" breathed the Count, "when they learn!" "It will be sooner than you think," she answered. A look Of deep cunning appeared for a moment in Zito's eyes. "Mademoiselle."-he said slowly and Incisively, "you do not know me. You are a woman wo-man and you talk like a wom.an. You have not felt my power." Katherlne did not flinch. 'T. am not afraid," she repeated. Zito's manner changed. "Why not face the matter squarely?" he said frankly. "The evidence against you. when known. Is strong enough to convict con-vict you. You are in a desperate situation sit-uation you cannot realize how desperate." des-perate." - , "Then. this charge is not known at the capital." Miss Barrington said, the truth of the matter dawning on her. "It was simply a pretext to make me your prisoner." Zito cursed himself for having spoken, spo-ken, but he was undaunted. "It was a pretext," he said frankly. "I wanted you and I sent men to Oberholts to get you. What they learned almost convinces con-vinces me that you really are a spy." Roland's temper, lashed and tortured as It was, could not endure more. He drew aside the tapestry to burst out upon the lying Count and throttle him. But the terror in, Katherlne' s eyes as they met his waa enough to check him. Yet the sight of him obviously strengthened strength-ened her. "You do not realize, mademoiselle." Zito conUnued, "the strength of the evidence ev-idence against you. Your visit to the capital here has been investigated and it is known that you beguiled certain high officers of our army into telling you secrets which their discretion should have taught them to keep to themselves." -. ' , t Katherlne laughed. "The Vhlngs they told me had no relation to politics." "It will be hard to prove that," retorted re-torted Zito. "with the evidence we have to the contrary. Your dalliance with these officers is directly connected with your private conferences with the Prince of Altenburg In ObeTholtx." "Oh. this is too absurd," interrupted Katherlne impatiently, "I have never even seen the Prince of Altenburg." "Do you venture to deny that you received the Prince In disguise at your hotel?" . "I deny It emphatically." ' "Then it may Interest you to know that we can prove that he entered your apartments at half past nine on Thursday Thurs-day the ninth. You are foolish to deny a fact. It will work against you." The day and the hour brought the truth home to Katherlne In a flash. She turned white and looked Involuntarily at Roland, where he stood half hidden by the tapestry, his finger on his lips and a light In his eyes. With an effort she gathered herself together and answered an-swered the Count, though her voice was low, "There is absolutely nothing In your charges. . I beg that you will leave me." "How can I. mademoiselle, when you madden me like this? Give me some hope for tomorrow. Tell me at least that you will be thinking of me after I am gone." But Katherlne was at the end of her patience. - "Have you no pride?" she burst out "Will you stay where you are not wanted? Have you lost even the semblance of courtesy? I thought I made it clear to you last winter that I never wished to see you again." Zito was accustomed to such rebuffs and he often found it easy to overcome them. He looked at her long before he answered, while she flushed painfully. "How beautiful you are, mademoiselle!" mademoi-selle!" he said finally, as though in a dream. She threw herself Into a chair before the table and covered her face with her hands. He seated himself at her side as he are on the second floor of this wing, i well toward the back." The Inspection went on with discour-" aging monotony. The fireplace seemed to offer opportunities and Roland i sounded it on all sides for a possible outlet. "Your prison seems secure," he said frankly. i "I have searched it In vain for a way of escape," she answered. "The bars are,' too strong for me. and the door U heavy enough to defy a battering-ram." Roland was still sounding the paneling; panel-ing; "Has Zito troubled you often as he did tonight?" he demanded. "Twice." she answered with business-like directness. Then she weakened weak-ened and her eyes filled. "It is too ghastly. He haunts me. I even dreamed that he came last night while I waa asleep." ' "Poor child!" said Roland tenderly. ' "Oh, It was only a dream," she wald. but I can't get It out of my mind. I had been Signaling for hours and it seemed so useless. When I finally lay down I was tired and discouraged. I suppose I fell asleep, though it seemed only a moment before this terrible dream came to me." Roland had stopped . now and was watching her anxiously. "Tell me what ; it was," he said softly. - , . "I thought." she went on. "that Count OL Zito entered the room througa. that bat- tered panel in the wall. He carried a dim lantern and by Its light he approached ap-proached the bed very silently. I could not move. And when I tried to speak, not a word would come. -You know It Is that way sometimes In dreams." - ,. . ' "Was that all?" Roland asked with relief. - - To be continued.) ..i |